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August 27, 2012 | | CAMPAIGN 2012 It's not just Akin. By pushing some of the most invasive state policies in modern history, the men of the GOP are driving their party off a cliff, writes Kathleen Parker in Newsweek. As party bigwigs gather in Tampa for the Tuesday kickoff of the Republican National Convention, Parker reviews their official party platform and sounds the alarm. Plus, full coverage of the convention-and the impending storm. TURNCOAT If former Florida Republican governor Charlie Crist had any friends in the GOP, he likely lost the last of them today. Crist is scheduled to speak at the Democratic National Convention next week in Charlotte, N.C., after publishing an effusive endorsement of President Obama Sunday in the Tampa Bay Times. Crist became an independent to seek a U.S. Senate seat, after it seemed inevitable that he would lose the GOP primary to Marco Rubio, who won the three-way race in 2010. Needless to say, his endorsement of Obama has inspired some tart remarks from other Republicans, including the chairman of the Florida Republican Party, who called the move “a repugnant display from a self-centered, career politician.” Civilian Massacres The number of people killed in recent days in the nation’s bloody civil war rises from a high of 200 to as many as 400—many of them women and children—as the Assad regime cracks down with unprecedented viciousness. And rebels and civilians are bracing for worse, writes The Daily Beast's Mike Giglio. DISTURBED Alleged Aurora, Colo., shooter James Holmes sent a text message to a classmate in July asking about “dysphoric mania”—then told her to stay away because he was “bad news.” Whether the question was driven by curiosity, self-diagnosis, or a doctor is unknown, but in a profile in The New York Times, the shape of a young man who grappled with loneliness long before the shooting at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises comes into focus. Known by classmates for his occasional oddball sense of humor and profound shyness, Holmes mostly kept to himself, seemingly receding from the world until the time of the shooting. In court filings, prosecutors said recently that Holmes told a fellow student that he wanted to kill people “when his life was over.” Overreaction Many in Tampa wonder if it was really necessary for the RNC to cancel the first day of convention events, as Tropical Storm Isaac seems to be pretty much passing them by. Meteorologists predict rain and thunderstorms interspersed with sunshine—not quite the tropical storm those in Tampa had feared. “They canceled it for a bad hair day,” a CNN meteorologist scoffed. Still, RNC chair Reince Priebus feels canceling the first day’s events was “the right thing to do.” He said, “Our first priority is ensuring the safety of our delegates, our guests, members of the media attending the RNC convention, and citizens of the Tampa Bay area.” | | 
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